SF Bay Area

San Francisco Bay and its surrounding streams, hillsides, forests, and coast has been impacted by human actions ever since gold mining in the mid-1800s deluged the Bay with sediments and contaminants. More recently, growing urban development and the alteration of freshwater flows into the Bay, have increased pressures on nature. Sea level rise and storm surges as a result of our changing climate, will continue to affect the urban and natural areas around the Bay.

Despite these conservation challenges, it is still home to over seven million people, is a site of Hemispheric Importance to migrating shorebirds, hosts marshes that buffer our cities from flooding and filter our water, provides nurseries for salmon and other fish, and remains a wonderful place for people to enjoy nature through hiking, boating, biking, and bird watching.

Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay region, Point Blue studies the myriad of habitats in the 9 county Bay Area region from the Bay's hillsides, streams, wetlands, and out into the ocean. Our work here centers on detecting and understanding climate change, stream restoration, wetland and beach conservation as well as understanding the marine food web out to the Farallon Islands. It is also the center of our education training programs for future conservationists.